Friday Morning Fishing Report S.R:
Until MIDNIGHT today, 1,500 CFS
From MIDNIGHT today until MIDNIGHT, Fri OCT 07, 750 CFS
Please, please be very careful out there. With this water flow (1,500 cfs plus run-off) the river is NOT crossable, but totally fishable. (Tip: Fish the slowest water you can find today. Thats where I would be at if I was a fish At 5am Friday the water level at Pineville is a real-time 1,720 cfs. Add in run-off and it will easily be over 2,000cfs down low. Please be safe.
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A friends Web Site Report-
"Janz" river fishing report:
9-27-05 The fishing continues to be good with fresh runs almost daily. The rain on Monday really helped. Some folks over the weekend chose to do battle in the combat zones, the large holes that hold fish, instead they need to walk a little ways up or down stream and try the fast water above or below the holes. I watched 3 guys standing above the Sportsman's hole trying to decide where to go to fish, right in front of them were about 300 salmon holding in the fast water. I spent Saturday out on the lake fishing in my boat one last time, the bay did not have the numbers of fish it should have. The temps were really messed up but the guys out fishing the deep water way out said it was loaded with fish but they could not get them to bite. I managed 2 fish and both looked like they were just getting ready to enter the river, so it looks like some good runs are still to come. Finding a good load of cohos along with kings in the river sorta signify to me that the peak of the run is started.
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Janz Lake report:
9-18-05 The fishing in Mexico bay continues to be fantastic. Fish are located from the Salmon
River out to 70 fow. You can also find good pods of fish moving around in front of the South dunes at
the same depth. J-plugs-silver bullet and bloody nose along with glow plugs early are their share, dodgers
and flies doing the same in just about any color combo, cut bait still taking fish also but why bother. The LOC
was great except for the crappy weather half the time. We managed 5th place steelhead and big fish for the
day with a one day carryover. The steelhead came on a bloody nose silver bullet with a wire line dipsey will
we fished for kings, right in the middle of the bay. Our biggest salmon was 27.5 lbs but we sure caught a lot
of them when we could get out. My new More On body Fly did more fish than all other lures combined. I guess I'll
have to seriously consider marketing them. Its just that they take a long time to make compared to other flies.
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Thursday Report:
The day started with a high wind warning, boy did it ever blow hard! (Gust's to 50-60) You could hear and see the tree's crashing across the river as you fished. Then the thunder and lighting let go with an amazing display. Sometimes its good to be a guide and not the angler holding and waiving a lighting bolt conductor up in the air. There were several incredible wild, windy, down pours of hard pelting rain of the likes you will ever experience.
All this and more while our rods were doubled over screaming "Fish ON!". The Kings were happy and more than willing to make my guest's goals come true. The fish would smile and then wave good bye as most (but not all) broke our lines and left us with that common, excited, adrenaline rush feeling that so many of all of us are familiar with. Continuing up river on their final journey of their lives. There is simply no nookie like chinookie!
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Today my guest's laughingly suggested that instead of calling the best spot in the hole the "Hole within the Hole". To call it Randy's G Spot. Today we reached maximum pleasure by fishing some of the finest, most enjoyable, exciting G spots on the river. The only trouble we had was finding it. (I know, pretty lame
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We worked some prime real-estate in the DSR with success (lowest part of the river) today. Game plan was to fish to the Kings and Coho's that ran into the river yesterday in good numbers. This was done by fishing approx. 2 miles above the estuary. Had we wanted to target the fish that would first enter the river this morning then we would have fished approx. 1-1/2 miles down river, closer to the estuary. So if you hear of a good run happening on any particular day. Then it is a guaranteed bet that some will settle into the holding waters (holes) from the middle to lower DSR overnight. Simply locate yourself in the upper DSR and all of those fish will have to run past you to continue their Fall migration up river. This same fish locating technique can be used for approx. 7 days after a large group first enter the river. They say the fish tend to normally, but not always (variables) take approx. 7 days to run the entire length of the river. (FYI - many do not run the entire length and instead find a suitable location that offers them safety, security and a current break until there biological clock says gravel, normally around the first of Oct.) So by guestimateing they run approx. 1 1/2 or 2 miles per day, you can locate yourself above them in the morning. Causing the same group of fish to run past you everyday. Guaranteeing you some of the best fishing around.
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Randy, I wanted to drop you a line to tell you how much fun we had yesterday and to give you a brief testimonial. Yesterday Joe and I fished one of our favorite holes. One we've fished before and had success at. We started out great hooking into 4-5 fish right off the bat but everything slowed down. We knew there were fish in the hole but we couldn't entice them to hit. I'm pretty sure I heard a voice (eerily similar to yours) saying "try varying your weight - little more - little less." I did, and like magic they started hitting again. As the sun rose brilliantly over the trees, things slowed down. Once again I heard this voice "try a bigger brighter color as the sun comes up later in the day" It worked, we hit them again.

We fished with you for a couple of years (today -last Thursday in Sep - actually used to be my day) and we wanted to let you know that at least 2 of the hundreds of valuable things you taught us sunk in. We laughed thinking you'd smile and say "at least them idiots learned something". Thanks for everything and tight lines always.
John Wickman
(See photo of this magnificent Steelhead. It is so bright, fresh, chrome color that it almost hurts your eyes to look at it )
Hi John,
Congrats on your outstanding day of fishing. Say, that big dime bright amazing metalhead looks very familiar. What a trophy of a lifetime! Thanks for sharing those invaluable tips. I'm sincerely hoping other's reading this (for free ) may increase their catch rate as you have succeeded in doing. It makes me very happy to hear of your continued success's on the Salmon River, where memories are made.
Best Fish's, Randy
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Mail Bag:
Some folks are getting excited about there upcoming trip up here to fish. Some are concerned about #'s of fish by mid-Oct. Here is my opinion about that:
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I figure that by mid-Oct. and beyond there will still be a ton of fish in the river. This is shaping up into one of the better seasons. I personally figure that by mid-Oct. 5% will have died for whatever reason. 10-20% will be harvested. (The other day I was told approx. 500 fish were cleaned if you combined all of the fish cleaning stations totals together for 1 day) Keeping in mind we still have 1,000's upon 1,000's to enter and run the river, this will make up for a large portion of the previously mentioned absent fish. So the river should have just as many if not more by then. So even if some of you are worried about #'s of fish being in the river by mid- Oct., no worries. The fish will leave a light on for ya!
Randy
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Old High water question: (This question and answer go good with today's higher water flow)
Randy,
I needed a question answered so I figured I would ask the master himself. I am headed to the salmon river this weekend, and see that the river is at 1200 cfs. What do I do to fish the higher water? How would the fish be reacting to the change in water depth, and speed. Hope to hear from ya soon.
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Hello,
The fish change their lies every time there is a major change in water flow in most holes. General example-Secret Hole pool, they sit at the head, in lower water. In a lil higher water they sit more in the middle, real high water and they sit way down towards the very tail. Further back is less current flow (current break) to deal with but also gives them deep enough water to feel safe and secure. Some fish will move into the diversions to escape the higher flow, while others are in the tails of the pools or hiding behind anything that breaks the flow. Salmon River- mainly look for seams, pockets and slower water. (Current breaks)
Hope this helps. Best, Randy
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Hi-
I read the issue on New England striper fishing flies in the March/April issue of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters and enjoyed it alot. Are your flies available for sale? If you don't sell directly, is there a retail outlet for your patterns? Thanks for your response in advance!!!! Sincerely, Mickey
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Hi Mike,
I was flattered to be one of six guides interviewed for that article on my "go to" fly for stripers. Im sorry, but they are not for sale anywhere. I tie them a certain way for certain reasons. Materials and the way I tie them are a lil different then other similar patterns. At some point I will be putting that fly with tying instructions on my web site for all to see and use for free. Best, Randy
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Today's Tip:
Andy and Warren fished the Salmon River and doubled their pleasure from yesterday. It was interesting to suggest stepping 2 feet to the left for a better drift and "Bang" fish on. Or shortening the leader and "Bang" fish on. Or advising to pull 2 feet of line off the reel to run it through the best spot and "Bang" fish on. It was all a matter of inch's or a couple of feet. Sometimes where they lay can be as exact as fitting a key into a lock. Having a clear understanding of habitat, presentation, entomology, rigging can put you into a small number of anglers who catch most of the fish.
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At one point Andy and Warren both hooked up in unison. Each hooting and hollering, like 2 little kids getting their first bicycle for their birthday. Warrens ran down stream and under Dave's line, with out getting tangled which gave me a sigh of relief. My next concern was who's fish do I net first? I asked both of them who was paying for today's trip and Warren said , he was. Guess who's fish I netted first. We grabbed a quick shot of the fish and all I could hear was Andy saying, Randy, it's ready, Randy, Randy, it's ready - in an excited manner. I ran over to where his line entered the water and scooped up his dime bright female Steelhead of 14 lb's. Whew! My camera decided not to work so I was unfortunately unable to capture it's incredible beauty for all of you to see.
Today we fished tails, heads of holes, tails of runs, seams and pockets. All transitional resting, holding area's.
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Friday, Sat. Sunday are my days off. Enjoy the weekend! Randy
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Wed. Report:
(As always, Personally speaking in the area we were in I noticed.., conditions can vary depending on variables) Lower end had another great steady push of a mixed bag of fish on Tuesday. If you look at and trust the Pineville gauge it looks as if they either pulsed the water or it simply came up due to run off Monday night, combination of both? Water was up a lil, very fishable. Today it was slower, so-so to ok in the lower end than yesterday, but still ok. Beautiful day! We had a steady stream of scattered, here and there, hooking up once in awhile, having to work for them until about 10am or so. Friends who were fishing lower had a better day with more Kings and coho's running into the river for the first time in the morning.
What was nice is it seemed as if everyone around hooked up occasionally, spreading all the fun around. Then it slowed down noticeably. Picked away at them. I dont know what happened the rest of the day, we left around noon. All below reports are still up to date and current. There are some BIG slugs of fish moving up river as we speak. They wont be hard to find as you could pretty much fish anywhere and find some or all as they spread out while running up the lower, middle, top end. All waiting for your perfectly (ahemmmmmm cast fly or bait.
Best Fish's,
Randy
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WOW! Thanks for stopping in, 2,397 individual hits on this web site for one day - Friday. Next week in one day, I should easily break 3,000 individual hits. Not bad for a want'a B guide
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Until MIDNIGHT Fri SEP 30, 750 CFS
From MIDNIGHT Fri, until MIDNIGHT, Fri OCT 07, 335 CFS
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Tuesday:
Surprise surprise. Most of us thought that this year would be a carbon copy of last year. 1,000's running early, lower end slowing down until Oct. 1 or so. But, it has not happened like this yet. Last week with very good fishing (fish running) in the lower end was a surprise to most of us. Lets hope it continues. Normally when you have a bunch of fish that run early then it takes awhile for them to stack - stage back up, before running the lower end again. Last year it wasn't until Oct. 1 approx. until we started to see good numbers run again after 1,000's ran early. it will be interesting to see what happens this week. These fish are funny. They do not have to (biological clock) run at present, but are choosing too.
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Tuesday's Trip Canceled Sunday afternoon, I'm off, What will I do. Probably sleep in. 4am, cant sleep. So here I sit typing
Hmm, its early, maybe Ill go out and wet a line, re pack all of my dried out things from yesterday's rain, write an article, "Suspended fish" and how to increase your catch rate. Hmmm, maybe Ill write more on this later. Interesting stuff if you've never gone there.
So many fish around, bet I can even catch one.
Or maybe I could sit here and write an article on, How to find, dissect, "The Hole within the Hole". Put yourself into the top 1% that catch's 99% of the fish.
Naaa, I think Ill go fish'n, sounds like much more fun! (Sorry)
Thanks for stopping by,
Randy
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Mail Bag:
You article of the Fly Of The Year....I was up there at salmon river and went to a few fly shops....no one there heard of the Red Head..or fly of the year....no one had the hooks # C068...I tied some up #12 and hooked..browns....can you tell me were to get the hooks #C068... The article to me was great...and learned a new fly that works...
Thanks Herb
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Hi Herb,
Congrats on your successful trip here on those big browns! Tom's red head - 60 second fly is a secret. Ssssh Dont want the world to know. he-he Toms fly has been featured in a regional magazine and also the Syracuse newspaper, but I have not pushed it into any of the national fishing publications to extend its popularity. Maybe one of these days if time allow's Ill submit it to some of the editors. Iíd like to thank Tom Wilson for introducing me to this Fly, many Flies ago.
If they dont have the hook thats their loss. They could have made a sale with you, right? Some places (in my personal opinion) may simply not know what most of us guides and or anglers want. So its up to us to educate them. Once done, it's consistently in stock. In their defense, many-many-many anglers simply have never been made aware of the value, fish catching increase these hooks give you. (Myself and other guides dont use them just for their sharpness So the shops order what they want. What they like, what sells, etc...Not until folks like us start to inquire, special order them, will there ordering practices change. I sometimes have to special order hooks myself if my main supply is low.
I would simply call my local fly and or tackle shop. They can easily order it.
Below is an email responding to your question from my Worldwide Mustad http://www.mustad.no Rep. I decided to go straight to the source. Hope it helps! Glad you enjoy the web site, hooks, Fly and the Salmon River, Randy
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Hello Randy,
I will ask our local rep to follow up on being sure we have them available in Pulaski. Whitakerís 315-298-6162 buys directly from us so if they do not have them, they can easily order them in. Catch a few for me. Iím in hot and steamy Ft. Lauderdale working a dealer show.Thanks again Jeff
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An Old one:
Teach a man or women to fish and they will go out and buy expensive fishing equipment, stupid looking clothes, a sports utility vehicle, travel 1,000 miles to the "hottest" fishing hole, and stand waist deep in cold water just so they can outsmart a fish. (Average cost per fish: $395.68)
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Randy, I decided to drive 4 hours to fish 6 and drive 4 hours back home (which I guess makes me half crazy) LOL .Anyway I went back to the the second spot you showed us where you said we should be able to play 8-10 fish and we ended up playing a lot more.I fished it from the other side though which was easier to land the fish because of the slow water but not as easy get a good drift. First cast of the morning I caught about a 5lb brown.After that I ended up playing 13 salmon in just 1 1/2 hours ! 12 lb mono and size 8 red estaz did the trick. I knew going into the spot I would be successful in playing at least a few fish.With the limited time I had today It was great to have a spot to go to where I could most likely get a few fish fast (as you suggested) first thing and then I had some time left to spend finding new spots to fish with rest of the day and ended up hooking 3 more salmon as well.
Thanks Again
Frank
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Monday Ramblings:
It poured buckets out today. It did not stop anyone from enjoying the day even though we were all drenched to the bone. It was a warm day out so it was actually comfortable. Noticed a number of anglers playing with fish today. Don't think there was a bad spot on the entire river. Smiles abound. We held our own with a number of feisty Kings wanting to play. Great day with even greater guest's!